(1) Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to hard disc drives (HDD), and more particularly to an improvement combining three separate HDD operations into a single assembly.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Present-day mass produced hard disc drives consists of a metallic housing in which is contained one or more discs (platters) mounted on a spindle that allows the discs to rotate. The discs are made from a solid, non-magnetic material, normally aluminum or glass. The discs are coated, on each side, with a very thin layer of magnetic material into which information is stored in binary form. For both sides of each disc there is a read/write head mounted on a suspension arm that moves across the surfaces of each disc.
Typically, HDDs employ a rotary actuator structure to position the suspension arm(s) transducer heads relative to recording surfaces of rotating discs. The discs are spun at high speed that spins the air creating an “air bearing effect” on the disc surface enabling an aerodynamically shaped read/write head to “float” at a very controlled gap from the magnetic surface of the platter. This gap is extremely small, measuring less than the diameter of a human hair. Assembly of many precision made mechanical parts along with the construction of hard discs is done in a clean room and humidity-controlled environment to prevent contamination that may cause very serious damage to the hard disc.
For the past several years, data storage methods have followed a tendency of escalating storage capacity while also shrinking the physical size occupied by its storage capacities. Introduction of more powerful computer hardware and software has contributed to increasing market pressures for less expensive, larger capacity and smaller packaging in disc drives. Storage device manufacturers make every effort to achieve any possible incremental cost savings that can be reasonably achieved without loss of technical performance and reliability.
HDDs, of the prior art, using a ramp, involve a mechanism which moves the sliders off the discs prior to power-down, and safely positions them onto a cam-like structure. The cam is equipped with a shallow ramp on the side closest to the disc, giving ramp load/unload its name. During a power-on sequence, the read/write heads are loaded by moving the sliders off the ramp, and over the disc surfaces when the discs reach the appropriate rotational speed. The air current from the rotating disc acts like an air cushion between the sliders and discs, keeping the two surfaces separated by a designed distance, called the flying height.
Conventionally, installed ramps are on the base of the metallic housing. The ramp either slides or rotates into position over the surfaces of each disc. This action requires a precision-machined reference surface, a locating stop and a securing feature in the base. Additionally, HDDs using a latch to prevent the read/write heads from moving onto platter surfaces during shipping or non-operating situations, are installed on the base keeping the actuator in a secure position in the event of inappropriate handling. This also requires a precise machined mounting surface, locating stop and a securing feature on the base. Lastly, a flexible printed circuit (FPC) used to transfer data from a read/write head to a printed circuit board (PCB). A connector is used to electrically join the PCB that is mounted outside the sealed disc drive to the FPC which is attached to the read/write heads inside the sealed disc drive. A gasket provided to seal the connector, and a bracket to locate and compress the gasket. This also requires a precise machined mounting surface, locating features and a securing feature in the base. Conventionally, the ramp, latch and connector bracket are three separate members attached and positioned independently onto the base structure.